Why are children sealed to their parents?

[_The Nehor]

Nehor

I can see omnipotence would be wasted on you.

It would be wasted on nearly every human, Nehor. Don't you think?

True dat.

True. I hope I'm an exception ;)

[_The Nehor]

Even among the most learned LDS/scholars, the topic of exaltation and sealing ordinance is highly debated and confusing. I can't imagine being a nevermo and trying to make sense of it all. :)

Not much about it is declared doctrine. This is one of those things that many members of the Church are finding out bit by bit not from teachers but from God. I'm not far along the road so my take on it would probably be more confusing than helpful....much like my thoughts on Polygamy.

[_moksha]

To answer the initial question, I think it means they get to book their all adult family home evenings together on the Planet Risa.

[_The Nehor]

To answer the initial question, I think it means they get to book their all adult family home evenings together on the Planet Risa.

I think I'm going to go with aquamarine skies and pink oceans and greener foliage. Risa looks so....dull. :)

[_moksha]

To answer the initial question, I think it means they get to book their all adult family home evenings together on the Planet Risa.

I think I'm going to go with aquamarine skies and pink oceans and greener foliage. Risa looks so....dull. :)

Well, you know how those Celestial Family Reunions go. A large Mormon Family can create plenty of excitement on bingo night. Afterward they can all watch reruns of Donny and Marie and eat popcorn balls. None of those missionary bathroom scenes from God's Army for them!

[_Gazelam]

The question to ask is, what are you sealing?

Your sealing your name upon your posterity. In a marriage in the temple, the man is sealing his name upon the woman, she is taking upon herself his name. A man bearing the priesthood promises to protect and provide for a woman who will take upon his name and together they will rear up children who will also bear the family name. Names are verbal symbols, they announce existence, herald ones reputation, and express character; they are, in some instances, a scepter of authority or even a crown of glory.. To "call one's name" over something signifies ownership, possesion, and protection - for example, of David's over a city (2 Samuel 12:28), of seven women seeking the name of a man to take away their reproach (see Isaiah 4:1), of God over the nations (see Amos 9:12) and over Israel (see Isaiah 63:19). To "cut off the name" was the equivalent of liquidating the person (see Deuteronomy 7:24). "In modern usage, names are convenient labels by which we differentiate one thing from another. But in the ancient world Shakespeares question "Whats in a name?" would have been taken very seriously. For a persons self was expressed and contained in a name. Analogously, God's self, his real person, is concentrated in his name." (Anderson, "Names of God," in Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 2:408.)

Philo referred to names as the shadow of an accompanying reality (see Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, p.697). An act of Peters serves as a perfect example. When he healed the lame beggar at the gate of the temple called Beautiful his words were "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" (Acts 3:6). Though the miricle was performed in the name of Christ and by the power associated with that name, Peter's language clearly portrays the idea that the power and authority of the exalted name rested within him. Peter did not implore the heavens in behalf of his impotent suppicant; rather he spoke by way of command - "In the name of jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." Such was the pattern of the meridian Apostles, and so great was the faith that they evoked in the populace that we read that the sick and afflicted were brought into the streets and laid on beds and couches, "that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them" (Acts 5:15).

Such is the manner in which true disciples endowed with the requisite power become the extention of their master. Thus we read that "God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." When certain Jewish exorcists sought to use the name of Christ to cast out a devil "the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" and then attacked those who had attempted to cast him out using a false priesthood. A spirit of reverence fell upon the Saints "and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." (Acts 19:11-17.)

The sacred names of Christ and of his Father do not stand alone among the Saints as names worthy of honor. Other names, though of an obviously lower stature than the designations of Deity, also are held in reverence among the household of faith. Among the chief of these would be names of Melchizedek, after whom the greater priesthood was named; Abraham, the father of the faithful in the covenant of salvation; and Israel, the patriarch of the twelve tribes. The name Melchizedek, "being by interpretation King of righteousness" (Hebrews 7:2), attests that all who hold this holy priesthood are destined to rule as priests and kings, but that they can only do so in righteousness. The name Abraham means "father of nations", and stands as a reminder that God has promised those who enter into and prove faithful in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage that their seed will continue both in the world and out of the world, as countless as the stars and as numberless as the sand upon the seashore (see D&C 132:30-31). "Thy name," Jacob was told, "shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed" (Genesis 32:28). Jacobs new name, the name by which his decendents and eventually the righteous of all future ages would be known, was Israel, announcing that they too had prevailed with God.

That which represents the Lord carries with it a spirit that evidences its ties with the powers of heaven. There is a spirit associated with the payment of an honest tithe, keeping the Sabbath holy, studying the scriptures, bearing testimony, or teaching the gospel, that cannot be experienced in any other way. In like manner there is a mantle associated with priesthood offices and callings that is reserved for those chosen to serve in them and yet is fully evident to those who sustain them in those callings.

George Albert Smith, the seventh President of the Church, bore the name of his grandfather, George A. Smith. His grandfather, the youngest Apostle called in this dispensation, eventually served as a counselor to President Brigham Young. George Albert tells of a dream in which he passed to the other side of the veil, doing so with the feeling that his work in mortality was finished. The only person he met in this dream was his grandfather, who, with great earnestness, said: "I would like to know what you have done with my name."

"Everything I had ever done," President Smith said, "passed before me as tohugh it were a flying picture on a screen - everything I had done. Quickly this vivid retrospect came down to the very time I was standing there. My whole life had passed before me. I smiled and looked at my grandfather and said:

" I have never done anything with your name of which you need be ashamed."

"he stepped forward and took me in his arms, and as he did so, I became conscious again of my earthly surroundings. My pillow was as wet as though water had been poured on it - wet with tears of gratitude that I could answer unashamed." (Smith, Sharing the gospel with others, p.112) It is a law of heaven that we honor our parents and in so doing bring honor to that family of which we are a part. As the day will come when we will be required to give an accounting to them as to what we did with the name they gave us, so the day will come when we wil be required to account for the manner in which we bore the name of Christ.

Our ancestors undoubtably pray for us to be blessed and looked after, that their family name may be blessed. Our families are bound together through the priesthood, just as the name of Christ is bound to us through the waters of baptism. As salvation is found in the name of Christ, bringing honmor to both the Fatehr and Christ, so are our families honored in a righteous posterity, bringing untold blessing to our ancestors and our posterity.

Families will be judged just as individuals.

[_barrelomonkeys]

I think what you wrote and quoted there Gazelem was very interesting. Our family life and that of my parents, and his parents all went about sort of the same thought process when it came to name/pride/family/duty/forever. Very interesting to see something that is handed down from generations actually put into some sort of theology.

[_barrelomonkeys]

gaz, I've read your post a second time. I don't understand your last statement that families are judged as individuals. Can you explain that more fully? Thanks!

[_Blixa]

I think its a grammatical confusion...the meaning being, "Families will be judged just as individuals are judged."

What this means exactly is something I'd like to see Gaz talk more about, too.

[_The Nehor]

Well, you know how those Celestial Family Reunions go. A large Mormon Family can create plenty of excitement on bingo night. Afterward they can all watch reruns of Donny and Marie and eat popcorn balls. None of those missionary bathroom scenes from God's Army for them!

If that's how it works I'm going for the separate and single thing with no family for all eternity